This invention relates to a gasket for railway hopper cars outlet and, more particularly, to an improved gasket for use with a pneumatic outlet for unloading particulate, granular, powdered, or fluent, solid ladings.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,723, which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, there is disclosed a gasket for installation on a pneumatic outlet such as those installed on covered hopper railway cars. The advantage of such a gasket in helping prevent lading contamination is set forth in this patent, as well as in my co-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,684. Besides these gaskets, other gaskets such as the gasket disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,185 are known in the art to achieve similar results. The gaskets shown in these patents are all used to form a seal between the bottom of a hopper car outlet, and the top of the outlet pan assembly. In addition to this surface, it is also important to effect a seal at each end of the outlet where an outlet adapter is installed for connection to the pneumatic equipment by which the lading discharging from the hopper into the outlet is entrained for delivery to a use site. The function of this second seal is the same as the first, i.e. prevention of lading contamination. One important element in the use of the various gaskets described in these patents is their alignment or orientation. During mounting of an outlet assembly to the bottom of a hopper, or mounting of end adapters to the sides of the outlet assembly, the gasket is manually fitted in place before the pieces are attached to each other. If the gasket is misaligned, gaps will result. Pellets or other particulate lading can then collect in these areas increasing the potential for contamination.